gilmourish | 6 years ago

This is my review of the Electro Harminix Triangle Big Muff Pi.

Signal chain:
Guitar - Fender Stratocaster, with D Allen Voodoo 69 neck and middle pickups and Seymour Duncan SSL5 bridge pickup
Amp - Reeves Custom 50, Laney LT212 cabinet with Celestion V30 speakers
Mic - Sennheiser e906 mic

All clips feature the Triangle Big Muff Pi
Clip 1: EHX Triangle Big Muff Pi, EHX Deluxe Electric Mistress, Boss RT-20, TC Electronic Flashback delay
Clip 2: EHX Triangle Big Muff Pi, TC Electronic Flashback delay
Clip 3: EHX Triangle Big Muff Pi, TC Electronic Flashback delay

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I’ve had the chance to play a couple of original Triangles and they all sounded different. Some of the clones I’ve been using sound more like a Sovtek – very dark and tamed.

Compared to the Green Russian, the Triangle has a much more scooped mid range. There’s a lot more gain on tap and noticeably more low end. Did I mention that it’s loud?

The volume control seem to produce unity level around 11 o’clock and at that setting, you get all of those fuzz-like harmonics. Turn the volume up higher and the pedal starts to drive the front end of your amp. It sounds more compressed and the pedal soon get that familiar violin-like smooth sustain.

The low end and gain can be hard to control on certain amps and you might find it a bit too aggressive with hotter pickups but you can easily roll back the gain below noon and still get a nicely saturated tone, with lots of sustain and character.

The only thing I could put my finger on is that it sounds slightly gated with the gain setting set high. Perhaps it’s a result of how it interacted with the amp settings I used but chords sounded a bit choked. Hard to hear but more a sense I got when I was playing.

Personally I prefer using Big Muffs with less gain and low end for recording as they’re easier to tame and record without too much hiss and rumble but I’m sure EHX didn’t have my studio setup in mind when they designed this beast.

So, the big question is – is the Triangle capable of replicating David Gilmour’s tones? I plugged into my old Deluxe Electric Mistress (yes, David used the ’76 model) and I must say that I’ve rarely felt as close to his 1980-81 Wall tones.

That low end rumble and the throaty, almost hollow sounding tone just came pouring out of the speakers and I love how you really need to work with the pedal to control the feedback and make that a part of your tone.

The Triangle might be a challenge on the more mids scooped amps, especially if you’re trying to replicate David Gilmour’s tones (read more about choosing the right pedals for your amp) but regardless of how close this actually is to the original Triangle, it’s a no-brainer.

I’m not going to start a debate over clones here but EHX offer some serious competition with this new line of Big Muff reissues and it’s about time. A huge applause to EHX for finally embracing their Big Muff heritage! Now, we can only hope for a Ram’s Head… and a classic sounding Electric Mistress.

Read the full review here
http://www.gilmourish.com/?p=7848